Method To Madness
by TheGirlInTheBlueCoat
Summary: When a renagade mage starts leaving guilds destroyed across Fiore, the Council of Era suspect Fairy Tail to be the ones responsible. With a Rune Knight representative dispatched to investigate Fairy Tail from the inside, all hell begins to break loose when Natsu makes a mistake which could land the guild in more trouble than they've ever been in before.
1. Prologue

**Method To Madness **When a renagade mage starts leaving guilds destroyed across Fiore, the Council suspect Fairy Tail to be the ones responsible. With a Rune Knight representative dispatched to investigate Fairy Tail from the inside, all hell begins to break loose when Natsu makes a mistake which could land the guild in more trouble with the law than they've ever been in before. Contains OCs

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I only claim joint ownership with **JuubiOokamii** over the characters Amy Casalta, Noelle Reese, Gabriel Benning, Nate Wolfe, Alec O'Connell, Lori Tam, Elias Oak, Lucien Reese, Diana Casalta, Arien Reese, Felicity Reese, Murphy, Minerva Benning, and the subsiquent plot of this story._

* * *

**- Prologue -**

She could see flames.

All around, stretching out as far as the earth went until it met with the smog stained horizon, blurred black with thick clouds of ash and smoke that rose into the air like spiraling columns holding up the sky. She put a hand to her mouth, choking on the toxic air that filled her lungs every time she breathed, her eyes watering with the effort to keep them open through the hot air.

It was funny. She had always associated good things with flames. Ever since she had found a home in Fairy Tail, they were after all the primary source of protection and support that came from one of her first and closest friend. But no cheer or reassurance came with the fire that kissed the scorched earth all around her. Not now.

The crushing force of fear weighed heavier than any weight ever could on her chest, choking the air from her lungs in near silent, terrified sobs. She called for him again, as loud as she could manage. Her legs failed her and she felt the sharp contrast of cold pain rush up her legs as she collapsed forward onto her knees.

"Lucy!" a familiar voice called her name out of the smoky blackness all around her, and she saw two familiar figures moving just within her eye line, one supporting the other.

Erza's deep red hair was scorched, her face black with dirt and ash, her armor dented and crushed in around her. She had supported over her shoulder a deathly pale and bruise covered Gray, a hand pressed against the left side of his midriff where tiny tendrils of blood were escaping from between his fingers. His breathing was laboriously forced, and he was going steadily whiter under the smears of soot and blood covering his face. Erza had to half carry, half drag him just to keep him moving through the scene out of hell that had come to life all around them.

"Lucy!" she screamed again, unable to see the girl from where she knelt only a few feet away on the baking earth, her voice and body refusing to obey her, "Where are you? Lucy!"

Erza continued to bellow, her already hoarse voice breaking with the effort. On her back, Gray stumbled, hunching over forward and wretched. The ground in front of him was suddenly painted red and he coughed violently. Erza steadied him, her face distorted with panic.

"Hold on, we're almost out! We have to find Lucy, then we'll be out..."

He cut across her, shaking his head feverishly, face dripping with sweat from both the horrific heat and the pain.

"We can't...not without Natsu..." he heaved between gasps, before dissolving into another fit of gurgled coughing.

If he had managed to say anything more it was lost to Lucy in a gust of wind that kicked up the dust and ash of the burned earth into the air. Her eyes began to lose focus but she forced them to remain open, trying desperately to call out to her friends over the howl of the wind. But her voice had abandoned her her breath coming out in strangled gasps. She felt strangely cold and clammy against the hellish heat.

Her whole body sagged with exhaustion, her head lulling to the side and the strength started to drain from her entire body. Her gaze fell upon something splayed on the earth a few feet directly in front of her. Her vision was shaky and blurred by terror and tears, but she could see what was there none the less.

She saw a pair of white, three quarter length trousers stained with dirt, and blood. A black tattered, sleeveless jacket and a once pearl coloured dragon scale scarf which had trailed away from around its owner's neck across the battle field. Lucy forced her eyes to focus so that she could recognise the colour of blood spattered skin from the muddy ground. Long toned arms, mangled and twisted. Fingers gripping nothing, as if still desperately reaching out for that last ounce of strength. Legs, stomach and chest a shredded mess, leading up to a bruised neck. Lucy chocked, wanting desperately to not see what she knew was there. But forcing herself too look anyway, forcing herself to take in the sight. She would never forgive herself if she looked away now.

His pink, blossom coloured hair was stained darker now and was dirty, but still unnervingly recognisable, perhaps the only true beacon to show who he really was anymore.

She sobbed again, blinking her eyes urgently as she nearly dropped her head, wishing with all her heart not to have to look at that one last thing. But this wasn't about what she wanted, she had to look.

She had to allow it to be burned into her memory.

So she opened her eyes and gazed forward, her hands crunching into fists so tightly around her knees her nails dug into the skin. She looked, and she looked, and her whole body convulsed with both horror and misery.

His face was totally contrasting to the rest of his physical state. And perhaps that's what really tore her heart. He looked so damn peaceful. As if he was just sleeping.

"Natsu…" Her sight failed her, blurring and darkening with tears and ash. She felt herself sway dangerously as the world began to frantically cartwheel all around her. She was sure she could hear the sound of herself screaming as she sprawled out onto the ground on her side, everything sinking into blackness around her.

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**It's been a long old time since I've had the courage to post anything on , but here we go. JuubiiOokamii and I have been working on this story together for a while now, and we thought it was high time we posted it. I'll try and keep the author's notes to a minimum from here on out, but just for reference the beginning of this fic is set directly after the Tower of Paradise arc. Hope you enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 1: Artemis

**Method To Madness **When a renagade mage starts leaving guilds destroyed across Fiore, the Council suspect Fairy Tail to be the ones responsible. With a Rune Knight representative dispatched to investigate Fairy Tail from the inside, all hell begins to break loose when Natsu makes a mistake which could land the guild in more trouble with the law than they've ever been in before. Contains OCs

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I only claim joint ownership with **JuubiOokamii** over the characters Amy Casalta, Noelle Reese, Gabriel Benning, Nate Wolfe, Alec O'Connell, Lori Tam, Elias Oak, Lucien Reese, Diana Casalta, Arien Reese, Felicity Reese, Murphy, Minerva Benning, and the subsiquent plot of this story._

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**- Chapter 1: Artemis -**

"Bloody hell..."

It often frustrated Noelle how often her charge chose to use that particular vulgar phrase whenever faced with something he found either bizarre or mildly impressive. It seemed inappropriate to her that a officer of the law, even a recently promoted one, should invoke such language so casually. Though she could hardly blame him in the slightest for it now. Had she been the type to use such language, she would have most likely used a similar curse at the surreal sight before the pair of them.

The front of the building was gone.

Only the shredded remains of the two walls struggling support what was left of the collapsing building. The the front of the building had exploded outward with such force that the supports beams and wall had been turned into a spray of flying shrapnel. Mangled wood, brick and stone jutted out in all directions like gigantic porcupine quills. The remaining debris had been embedded in the road, opposing buildings, and in several of the the unfortunate souls who'd been too close at the time. There were several small patches of blood still left on the cobble stones.

"What the hell happened?" Sergeant Nate Wolfe wheezed like he had been kicked in the stomach, dazedly shuffling to the side to let a pair of paramedics rush past him. They were carrying an unconscious young girl no more than ten years old. Several more rescuers and volunteers were frantically working to dig trapped civilians out from under the collapsed roof, while the paramedics had their hands more than full tending to a small army of injured guild mages. There were a few that looked they were in need of hospital treatment, but they wouldn't be getting it any time soon. The entire street looked like a bombsight straight out of a war film.

Lieutenant Noelle Reese, did not answer her sergeant's question. She just surveyed the chaos all around them with hard storm cloud grey eyes, and a stony look on her face. A tiny mechanical part of her mind had automatically closed off the part of her brain that had started screaming the second she had seen the mayhem. It was a trick that a lot of more experienced officers made a point to learn early it allowed them to deal with some of the less pleasant responsibilities of the job.

It only took a couple of seconds and she pulled herself out of her daze, her mental panic being pushed back behind the wall of stoic monotone she had become so used to. Straightening her self up, she marched stiffly over to the makeshift infirmary where the majority of the shellshocked mages were being attended to.

"Any casualties?" Her voice came out a robotic demanding bark. One of the paramedics turned impatiently to her, spotting the Rune Knight emblem emblazon on the front of her robes and recoiling a bit. He hastily started pulling off a pair of blood covered gloves to wipe the sweat and dust from his face.

"Not as bad as it could have been a few broken bones, lots of bruises and a couple of concussions all round. No one killed, but we've got three guild members with who are going to need a hospital."

"What happened? Some kind of explosion?" Wolfe questioned somewhat squeamishly from behind his senior officer, watching as another survivor was carried out of the rubble. The man was whimpering and holding his ears which were both bleeding.

"You'll have to ask them." the paramedic said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the small crowd of guild members who were un-harmed enough to sit up, "Though I wouldn't hold your breath for a coherent response. Most of them won't be able to answer you."

Noelle furrowed her eyebrows at the hard faced paramedic. "Why?"

"Because they can't hear you. More than half of them have had their eardrums ruptured." he answered flatly, before bustling over to help the man who was still clinging to his bleeding head in pain.

"Damn…" Noelle vaguely recalled hearing Wolfe breath out next to her, the syllable coming out more like holy word than a curse. She ignored him, scanning her eyes around the crowd of battered guild mages who were clustered in little groups on the area of clear pavement. Some of them didn't look like they were quite with it; but a few seemed to be slowly recovering from the shock of having their guild explode from the inside out.

Her eyes landed on a middle aged man. He was sitting on the curb with an icepack pressed against his temple and an impressive black bruise forming under his left eye. But otherwise he seemed unhurt. He wasn't bleeding out of his ears at least.

"Come on." Noelle said briskly, pulling her sergeant by the shoulder to get him to stop ogling at the chaos and follow her lead. She carefully walked over to the somewhat dazed man and crouched down next to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He jumped a little, obviously not having heard her approach him.

"Sir?" she kept her slightly robotic tone in place but made sure to speak loud and clearly to him, "Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

He stared at her mouth pensively for a second before answering in an equally loud, slightly garbled voice.

"Y-yeah, bu' me ears are still ringin' pretty bad."

Noelle nodded and continued to speak in an loud voice, making sure to accentuate the words with her lips.

"My name is Lieutenant Reese, and this is Sergeant Wolfe." she said, gesturing to herself and the young man behind her, "We're Rune Knights of the Council. Can you tell us what happened here?"

The man took a moment to decode what Noelle was saying to him, but the second he did he flew into an impressive array of loud curse words. Due to his apparent deafness, his words were so jumbled that very little of his offensive shouting actually made any sense, but it was enough to make both Noelle and Wolfe jump in alarm.

Noelle quickly composed herself and loudly asked the ranting man to clam down. He did not.

"Shriekin' bird o' death! Spawn of hell! Devil child! And where the hell where you lot when we needed ye?" He shrieked as Wolfe attempted to stop him swinging his arms around in fury.

"Sir!" Noelle barked loud enough for him to hear over the noise of his own yelling, "I need you to tell us what happened!"

He continued shouting and failing, "Not a shred of mercy! They just come out of nowhere and thirty seconds later, the friggin' roof is caving in!"

"What the hell is this old lunatic on about?" Wolfe cried, struggling to restrain the small but clearly strong gentleman in an armlock while trying not to get himself punched in the process, "He thinks a _person_ did this? All this?"

Noelle ignored him.

"Who did?" she demanded. The man looked her straight in the face, a mixture of rage, fear and obviously pain in his expression.

"You know them! That renegade!" he hollered, "That hell-screaming fury of the underworld! It was that rouge, Artemis!"

* * *

Lucy had only been little the last time she'd had a nightmare. She remembered perfectly clearly the way her mother had heard her frightened cries in the middle of the night, and had gently rocked her in her arms until the frightening images had begun to fade away.

No such relief had existed for her the previous night when she'd woken herself screaming so loud her throat had burned, and heartbeat had roared in her ears. Her landlady had almost called the authorities for fear that her tenant was being murdered in her bed. Lucy hadn't slept again after that. Even hours into the next morning, surrounded by the generally reassuring mayhem of the guild, she couldn't quite get rid of the terrible images of the dream that plagued her.

She hadn't even realized that she'd been staring into space until Mira's gentle voice had pulled her out of her daze.

"You look a little pale Lucy, are you sure you're alright?" There was a genuine look of concern etched on the white haired barmaid's face, but Lucy waved her hands in front of her from the other side of the bar.

"Yes, I'm alright, really. I just...had rather a horrible nightmare last night."

"Oh dear, I hope you're not getting sick. Be sure not to tire yourself out too much." Mira chided, and Lucy gave a tired but grateful smile pushing the horrible thoughts of her nightmare to the back of her mind and trying to look convincing. She hated to see Mira worried.

"I'll try." she answered distractedly, turning her head away to glance around the guild. Natsu, Happy and Gray still hadn't arrived, and Erza was away on a separate job and wasn't due back until later that day. Regardless, the atmosphere was still noisy and bustling, just the way she liked it. It took her mind off of everything else that was worrying her...

"Like the rent." she groaned to herself woefully, suddenly remembering that she had yet to pay her landlady for that month, and she hadn't been on a fully paid job in weeks, thanks to Gray and Natsu.

Between the two of them they'd managed to knock down an entire village hall on their last mission.

"Morning." a familiar, sleepy voice came from behind where Lucy was sat. She turned her head, only to be greeted with a sight of a half-asleep Gray Fullbuster plodding towards her. His spiked black hair was even messier than usual with bed-head, and he was dressed in nothing but a pair of blue striped boxer shorts. He'd even managed to lose his shoes on the way over.

"Morning Gray, you forgot your clothes again." Mira pointed out cheerfully, barely missing a beat.

That woke him up.

"Damnit!" Gray swore loudly, more annoyed than embarrassed, hastily turning to where Lucy was sat at the bar, "Luce, could you lend me your-?"

"No." Lucy interrupted him without looking up. Experience had taught her to never glance below Gray's belt line, just in case he'd neglected to don anything at all. It had happened more times than she cared to tell. Thankfully his unconscious stripping habit had been a less frequent occurrence during the recent cooler months. But it was almost spring again and the weather was starting to get warmer which in turn, much to Lucy's dismay, meant that Gray took his clothes off more often than not.

Mercifully, Mira came to the rescue, pulling out a neatly folded set of clothes she'd stashed under the bar for such an occasion. Hastily thanking her, Gray tugged on the cargo pants and shoes, leaving out the shirt and dropping onto the barstool next to Lucy's.

"Where's Natsu then?" he asked in a bored tone, "I thought you two wanted to take another job today."

Lucy sighed heavily, staring down into her half drunk coffee.

"He said he'd probably be late because he was tired you guys did spend all of yesterday tearing down a national monument." she said dryly, eyeing him begrudgingly out of the corner of her eye. He chuckled lightly, but there was an uncomfortable edge to it.

"Oh yeah, that. Well gramps hasn't mentioned it at all, so it couldn't have been all that bad."

"Oh it couldn't, could it?"

Gray and Lucy's heads turned in unison to see Master Makarov, the head of Fairy Tail looking at the pair of them incredulously. She hadn't even noticed the dwarf-like man appear on the bar next to them. He didn't look at all amused by Gray's last comment.

"You and Natsu are going to put me into an early grave with all the ruckus you've caused lately." he spoke irritably, waving a set of papers which Lucy could only assume were damage bills in the ice mage's face, "If I hadn't sent Erza out, I'd have let her deal with the pair of you."

Gray looked suddenly looked nauseous.

"Please don't tell her, gramps. You saw what she did to us last time..." he pleaded, not bothering to hide his terror at the idea of being left to Erza's disposal. But Makarov just waved a hand dismissively at him, "I'll tell her the truth, as always. Whatever happens to you and Natsu after that is your own fault."

"Tell me the truth about what?"

Lucy had to smile at the looks of stricken horror on both Gray and Master's faces at the voice that questioned them from behind. It still amazed her how Erza could sneak up on them without the tell tale clinking of her armor giving her away. Gray and the Master practically leaped to attention the second they'd wiped the terror from their faces.

"Welcome back!" they both said simultaneously before grinning, their expressions so fake and theatrical that Lucy actually had to put a hand in front of her mouth stop herself from laughing. Erza eyed two men suspiciously for a brief moment, before looking to Lucy.

"How has everyone been?" She asked, though it was obvious that she was really asking after their behaviour, rather than well being.

"Fine." The Master lied in a cool tone, completely relaxed once again. Erza raised an eyebrow, glancing up to the roof which had fresh scorch marks burnt across it from the last bar fight Natsu had instigated.

"Uh-huh." She muttered unbelievingly.

"Anyway," the Master interrupted before she could make a move to go and hunt him down, and Lucy slowly let out the breath she had been holding. No matter how much Natsu may annoy her at times, she wouldn't wish Erza's ideas of discipline on anybody. "What have you found out? Is the news true?" The Master sounded unusually tense and Lucy perked up with interest as both Gray and Natsu also turned in to listen.

"I'm afraid it is." she spoke seriously, "Another large guild has been attacked, that's the fourth one this month. The attacker's been identified as the same renegade mage as all previous attacks, and the style of destructions is the same too." Erza's face took on a dark expression, "I've been to see the most recently attacked guild myself."

"How bad was the damage?" Lucy asked, not entirely sure she wanted the answer. She had remembered seeing reports of the attacks in the news, though she hadn't realised the severity of them until an image had been in the papers the day before.

An entire street had been destroyed beyond recognition.

"It's bad." Erza responded.

"_How_ bad?" Gray pressed intently, "As in 'bad: a few tables got smashed' or 'bad: it looks like Natsu's just had a job mending roof tiles there'?" Lucy couldn't help but think it was a good thing Natsu wasn't there, or that could well have sparked off yet another riot.

"There are very few things which can match Natsu's abilities for destruction," Erza said somewhat disapprovingly, "Though it wasn't far off. Titan Nose looks like it will be out of commission for a while."

The Master let out a long sigh.

"This isn't good." he murmured more to himself than anyone else, running a hand pensively over his balding head.

"Why? If everyone's busy rebuilding it will mean more jobs for Fairy Tail." Gray said frankly, somehow managing to make it sound completely void of anything sinister.

"That may be true; but right now we are one of the largest guilds still left standing this side of Fiore. That alone is making people suspicious as to whether we may be involved somehow."

"No way!" Lucy straightened, "Fairy Tail? Responsible for all of those dreadful attacks! No one reasonable would believe that."

"I'm afraid reason don't come into it, my dear." the Master sighed, "It won't be long now I received word this morning that the Council are planning to send one of their officials here to assess the situation. I suspect that they'll want a witness of their own present just in case anything...unexpected happens."

"They can't just do that, can they?" Gray looked genuinely outraged at the idea.

"An inspection from the Council is the least of our worries." Erza countered, "Because either way, we're likely to be the next attack target."

"But surely if the rogue mage attacks, that will be show the Council we are innocent." Lucy persisted, trying not to visualise their guild in the same state as the others she's seen in the news.

"Yes it would, but I'm not keen on the idea of being attacked by anyone that savage just to prove a point, are you?" The Master interjected grimly.

"N-no, I guess not. So, there's one definitely coming soon then; one of the Council officials I mean?" Lucy asked her tentatively.

"Most probably." Erza confirmed, "At the very least we had better be prepared for anything."

Mirajane nodded in agreement from where she'd been listening from behind the bar, "I will alert everyone to keep a good eye out."

"Just how dangerous is this rogue?" Gray questioned with a faintly skeptical tone and Lucy mentally eluded to the fact that he'd probably neglected to check any of the newspapers recently.

"No one knows the exact nature of her magic; every witness who got close enough to tell is still hospitalised." Erza said after a thoughtful pause and Lucy blinked, shocked.

"So they could be even more powerful than…wait! _Her_?"

"You didn't know?" The Master raised his eyebrows to Gray and Lucy who were all staring to Erza aghast by this new scrap of information. "The rogue is a woman. The papers have nicknames her Artemis the huntress. According to the few witnesses still able to give accounts after the attacks, she's apparently going from guild to guild searching for something, and she's destroying everything in her path to find it."

"No way…" Lucy blinked in astonishment.

"A _woman_ did all that?" Gray said, looking faintly disbelieving. Erza cleared he throat pointedly, folding her arms across her armour.

"Is it that so hard to believe?" she asked, with a look towards Gray who immediately tried to suck the words back into his mouth.

"No." he forced out in genuine fear, gulping down his thoughts and Lucy sighed. She somehow suspected that Gray would not be able to get the image of Artemis looking exactly like Erza out of his head any time soon.

Though, in the midst of all the commotion, Lucy couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just forgotten something very important. Something nagging at the back of her mind, screaming to be heard before it was too late.

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**Hope you enjoyed the first full length chapter. Please be kind and let me know what you think. :)**


	3. Chapter 2: Fatal Error

**Method To Madness **When a renagade mage starts leaving guilds destroyed across Fiore, the Council suspect Fairy Tail to be the ones responsible. With a Rune Knight representative dispatched to investigate Fairy Tail from the inside, all hell begins to break loose when Natsu makes a mistake which could land the guild in more trouble with the law than they've ever been in before. Contains OCs

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I only claim joint ownership with **JuubiOokamii** over the characters Amy Casalta, Noelle Reese, Gabriel Benning, Nate Wolfe, Alec O'Connell, Lori Tam, Elias Oak, Lucien Reese, Diana Casalta, Arien Reese, Felicity Reese, Murphy, Minerva Benning, and the subsiquent plot of this story._

* * *

**- Chapter 2: Fatal Error -**

"Sorry Wolfe, but I've already said no." Noelle repeated for what she counted as the fourth time in the last half an hour, "The less of us seen there the better the chance of this working."

Sergeant Wolfe frowned at her from the seat across, his shaggy blond hair swaying a little as the train rocked from side to side. It was obvious that he was less than happy about the arrangement being made by his senior officer. Noelle sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Look, you saw what happened to Titan Nose guild with your own eyes. This isn't the kind of mission you should start wi-"

"I'm seventeen, I'm not damn kid!" he exclaimed, realizing his mistake when Noelle quirked a disapproving eyebrow at him. "Ma'am." he added a little lamely.

Noelle tried to sound patient, though it was difficult for her with the rocking motion of the train unsettling her stomach. She hated traveling.

"I know Wolfe, but you are only a sergeant, and just a week into the promotion. There's too much riding on this one. We've been trying to catch this rouge mage for months now, and we can't risk letting her get away again." she tried to choose words that wouldn't dent his male pride too much, "The less threatened she feels the more likely she'll be to fall into the trap we set for her it won't work if there are a lot of us seen in Magnolia together. It would be be better for you and Sergeant Tam to lay in wait outside the town until we're sure she's here. You understand?"

Wolfe looked very much like he wanted to argue back, but he didn't. Instead he just heaved a defeated sigh and slumped back into his seat, almost pouting.

"Yes, ma'am." he muttered, reminding Noelle of a sulky little kid who'd been caught out stealing from the cookie jar.

Nate Wolfe was a good kid. Stubborn as hell, but she liked him. He'd kept her on her toes for the few months she'd been mentoring him. He'd originally only been a cadet in her devision, but after a number of local robberies had been solved thanks to his blood hound-like need to follow leads, he'd been bumped up to the rank of sergeant and given Noelle to shadow. He was talented for his age, but to her he still seemed like just a starry eyed-kid. She only had a vague description of Artemis to go by; courtesy of the cursing man she'd interviewed at the last guild they'd investigated. The last thing she needed was Wolfe getting mauled if her trap for the rogue mage broke badly which seemed more than possible given the state of the last guild they'd seen.

It would be better for them both if Noelle could get this job done alone without any hiccups. Her last job before taking on Wolfe had gone sour, and she was treading on eggshells with the Council enough as it was.

"You'll thank me later, I promise." she said, giving him a little wink before standing up as the train began to slow and the intercom announced their arrival to Magnolia station.

Wolfe's gaze followed her a little ruefully as the trained rolled to a stop and she un-latched the door, stepping out onto the platform with her bag in tow.

"Listen," she said, leaning back through the doorway to him, "There is something you can have a think on in the meantime; though I shouldn't really be telling you."

Wolfe looked abruptly interested, just like she'd expected he would at the notion of a secret being entrusted to him.

"What is it?"

Noelle lowered her voice a bit to be sure she wasn't being eavesdropped on. "Major Benning briefed me on the collective movements of Artemis over the past few months. She's moved through most of Fiore by now, and for some reason Fairy Tail is the only major guild that she hasn't attacked yet, despite the fact that it's directly in her line of fire. Now why do you think that would be?"

It barely took Wolfe a second to see what she was getting at.

"You mean there could be a chance that Fairy Tail is sheltering her for some reason? Or they're allied with her; that's why she's not attacking them?"

Noelle nodded. "It's starting to look that way."

"But why?" he queried, and she shrugged.

"Cutting out the competition I guess. That's certainly what the Council is starting to think. Then again, they'd be happy with any reason to disband that den of troublemakers." The whistle blew to signal the trains imminent departure and Noelle moved to shut the carriage door. "Keep an ear to the ground at any rate. I'll need you back here soon if this plan works." And with that she slammed the door shut just as the train began to move off again. She gave Wolfe one short wave goodbye as the carriage pulled away, before turning away with her bag in hand towards Magnolia's central station, following the signs for the center of the town.

* * *

Natsu gave out a long sigh as he stretched his arms over his head, blinking the tiredness out of his eyes. It was still way too early for him.

Perched on the top of his head, nuzzled into the spikes of his pink hair and was his trusted partner in crime Happy, who was purring softly in deep sleep. Natsu scratched the cat absently behind the ear and carried on walking, putting his hands in his pocket. He'd promised Lucy that he'd try and make it to the guild early so they could take another job. He'd thought the last one had gone well, but obviously the feeling had not been mutual. She'd almost cried when the town took the damage expenses out of their reward.

Natsu sighed through his nose in a bored tone. Everything he did seemed to be going wrong recently. He knew full well that he was notorious within he guild for wreaking havoc, but over the past few weeks he'd been getting blamed for more than he bargained for. It was starting to get to him a bit people automatically assuming that he was the one at fault all the time.

He was so lost in the reverie that he hardly noticed when his shoulder caught a stranger walking past him in the other direction, sending the young woman he'd collided with stumbling to the ground.

He opened his mouth to apologize but she cut across him too quickly.

"Sorry! My fault!" she said hastily, scrabbling to pick up her dropped belongings. Not that there was much to retrieve. For someone who looked like traveller she was packed awfully light. Just a simple leather messenger bag that had spilled out a pouch of coins, a half eaten sandwich wrapped in a cloth, and what looked like a clumsily sketch on a scrunched up piece of parchment. She was hastily stuffing the coin pouch and some spare clothes back into the bag when Natsu reached down and picked the scrap of paper out of the dirt.

The drawing was awful, like it had been scrawled down in a hurry. But he clearly recognized the Fairy Tail logo drawn in the top corner, with an arrow pointing down the scribbly high street to what was unmistakably the guild building.

"I need that back."

Natsu looked up from the crude map to look at the girl who had spoken to him.

She was a couple of inches shorter than he, with wide ernest green eyes set in an oval face that was smeared with sweat and dirt. Much of the rest of her appearance was obscured by the long beige traveling cloak and hood she'd pulled over her dark hair. But she certainly appeared to be about the same age as him. She looked more like a tramp than a traveler, holding a dusty palm out-stretched for the scrap of paper still in his hand.

"Please." she repeated, reaching out and taking hold of one corner of the parchment tentatively.

"Are you looking for Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked her bluntly, keeping hold of the scrap of paper she was trying to pull out of his hand. The girl looked shocked, her eyes widening a little under the shade of her hood.

"H-how did you know?"

Natsu pointed to the Fairy Tail logo drawn in the corner with an eyebrow raised. "Not too hard to guess."

The girl blushed a little behind the dirt on her cheeks.

"Oh..." she answered, and her voice had a slightly musical tone to it, despite the fact that it sounded a little hesitant. She had an slight accent too, but he didn't know from where, "Yeah, I'm looking for Fairy Tail. I'm lost."

Still refusing to relinquish his hold on the map, he leaned forward to look directly into her confused face. She was slight enough in build that he wasn't surprised that he'd knocked her over so easily the top of her head barely made it to his eye level. He didn't recognize her from anywhere, and she didn't even really look like a mage.

"What do you want with Fairy Tail? You look kinda suspicious." he said bluntly and the girl's dirty face abruptly looked a little offended, like Natsu had just called her something very unpleasant.

"I'm looking for someone and I need to get to Fairy Tail to find them! Please give it back!" She tugged on the paper, obviously scared of ripping it in the effort to get it out of Natsu's grip. Natsu let the suspicious expression fall from his face at her response.

"Oh, ok." he said flatly, letting go of the paper, and the girl hastily stuffed it into a pocket beneath her cloak with a frown, "Is this someone you're looking for a Fairy Tail mage?" he asked frankly, still too curious to just let her walk off. She shifted hesitant from foot to foot in front of him, an uneasy expression on her face.

"Well, sort of. Yes. Maybe. I don't really know." Natsu raised an eyebrow at her and she threw her hands up at him in exasperation, "It's complicated, ok! And I don't have to time explain it, I'm sorry. Thanks for helping me pick up my stuff."

She was about to turn and leave him standing there when something Natsu said made her stop.

"Well, I'm from Fairy Tail."

She'd hesitated mid-stride, slowly turning her head to look at him again. "What?"

"I'm a Fairy Tail mage. I'm going there now." he spoke plainly, jerking a thumb over his shoulder in the opposite direction, "Also, you're going the wrong way."

The girl didn't bother to look embarrassed by her obviously appalling sense of direction. She whirled where she'd stopped and stared at him aghast.

"Really? You're serious? You're from Fairy Tail?" Natsu was a bit taken aback by her enthusiasm. She all but lunged at him, grabbing hold of his hand like it was a lifeline, "Can you take me there? Please?"

"Urm..." Natsu hesitated, uneasily. The girl looked and seemed harmless enough, but there was something nagging at the back of his head that he couldn't shake off. He had the distinct feeling that just talking to this girl was a bad idea.

"Please," she was looking him directly in the face with a strange sort of desperation, more like a lost child than a teenage girl, "I've been looking for so long, and Fairy Tail is my last hope."

Natsu felt an abrupt pang in his chest as the thought of Igneel rose to the top of his mind. He'd been searching for any clues to the whereabouts of his dragon foster father for years now so he could hardly say that he couldn't empathize with the girl. Whoever she was looking for, they must have been equally important to her as Igneel was to him.

"Please." she said a third time, a little more forcefully this time.

Natsu hesitated, trying to recall what had been nagging at the back of his head moment before. He wasn't sure if he'd just imagined it, but something in the tone of the girl's voice sounded like it had changed. Suddenly she was the only person talking on the whole street, despite them being surrounded by crowds of bustling people. He felt his head go a little fuzzy for a split second, but no sooner had the sensation registered before it vanished again, taking all the unease he'd felt with it.

He looked down at the green eyed girl again, wondering why he'd found her suspicious in the first place. Ignoring the thought, he grinned happily, showing a row of pointed teeth.

"Come on then." he said, turning to head of in the correct direction this time, the girl falling into step beside him as she trotted to keep up with him. The jerking motion he made as he turned must have woke Happy because he stirred from his slumber and sat up in Natsu's hair with a sleepy yawn and a curious glance down at the girl.

"What's your name by the way?" she asked in that same musical tone she'd used earlier and Natsu smiled at her.

"Natsu Dragneel," Natsu responded cheerfully, "And this is Happy."

"Aye! Nice to meet you." the blue cat chirped in a friendly tone, giving her a little wave of his paw. She smiled, looking unmistakably relieved and unabashedly happy to be walking beside them.

"I'm Amy."

* * *

"Master," Mirajane's spoke from behind him where he sat cross-legged on the bar, pointing towards the door, "They're here."

Makarov didn't move his head up to look, he had guessed as much upon hearing the rustle of commotion run through the room as the main door opened and someone stepped inside off the street.

His eyes flicked to the side looking past the smoke curling from his pipe to see a woman, probably in her late twenties, standing in the doorway observing them, clad in the official Rune Knight field regalia. She was dark skinned and tall, with long black hair pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck. She held herself with an almost haughty uprightness, something like the posture you'd imagine to belong on a ballerina. What was most striking though were her eyes. Makarov could see even at a distance that they were a startling shade of grey-blue, and looked somewhat unnatural against her exotic complexion.

The woman moved her gaze from the abruptly quiet Fairy Tail mages scattered about the room, and fixed on the Makarov. Immediately she moved towards him through the crowd of tense mages, a few of them parting to let her through. Among them were Gray and Erza who threw the her unmasked looks of dislike and suspicion while Lucy, Levy and many others just kept their eyes averted, not wanting to cause any unnecessary trouble.

Well, the woman certainly knew how to make a lasting impression Makarov thought. He'd give her that if nothing else.

"Master Makarov Dreyer?" she spoke with a voice that seemed a bit too young for her face the second she reached him. Makarov nodded complacently at her, putting down his drink next to him on the bar but keeping his pipe in hand.

"Indeed." he confirmed, "I assume you are a official sent here from the Council, no?"

She nodded politely at him, keeping her face impassive as she reached into the fold of her robes. Makarov barely had to look to recognise the official seal of the Rune Knights she presented to him as proof of her identity.

"My name is Lieutenant Noelle Reese. I've been sent here to intercept a possible attack on your guild by a hostile rogue mage." She answered him shortly. Makarov leaned his elbow on his knee, setting his chin on his hand.

"So I've heard." he commented blandly, as if the subject didn't interest him all that much, "So it's your opinion that our humble guild will be the next target to this runaway mage we've heard so much about then?"

"It seems likely." she sated mildly, "So far she has only moved on large and well known guilds, and her last attack was not far from Magnolia. I'm sure you have heard about the condition Titan Nose was left in."

"And you think that we as a guild would be unable to handle a single rouge mage all on her own?" Makarov shot at her, not really intending to accuse more to view her reaction. The woman's eyes were like brewing thunder clouds against her dark features, the shadows around her face flickering oddly in the light. She smiled politely and it softened her harsh features a little.

"I have no doubt of that. A guild as...outstanding as Fairy Tail would doubtless be able to 'handle a single mage all on her own' as you say. However this particular mage is a wanted fugitive. I am here only to prevent unnecessary mishaps, not fight your battles for you." She replied cooly, deliberately avoiding making any overtly offensive statement. Though her quip towards Fairy Tail's questionable reputation had not gone unnoticed by him. Makarov narrowed his eyes at her, but just for a the briefest moment.

"I see."

"May I respectfully request that I remain here for a maximum of two days? Purely to observe you understand. I have no other business with Fairy Tail other than the capture of this mage." She spoke carefully but pointedly, making it clear that the Master had no choice but to accept, or face the disapproval of the Council. Makarov nodded without arguing there was little point.

"By all means, please sit down. You must have had a long journey if you've come all the way from Era." he said to her, gesturing toward Mirajane who squeaked in sudden surprise, rushing flustered back to her station behind the bar. The Rune Knight woman smiled again, ignoring the distrustful and in many cases furious glares she was receiving to the back of the head.

"That would be appreciated, thank yo-"

Her reply was cut abruptly short by a surprisingly sharp 'bang' as the doors to the guild were thrown open.

"We're back!"Makarov felt his eardrums vibrate inside his head with the bellowing sound of Natsu's resonating voice as he kicked the front door open.

"Aye!" Happy flew in after him.

"Natsu! Use the door properly! Don't just barge in like that!" Gray barked back at him just as loudly, getting up from his seat at one of the far tables. Natsu ignored him happily, pulling another person along behind him who was hovering uncertainly just outside the door.

"Hey come on now, don't be shy. You need our help, right?"

A sudden silence completely enveloped the room as all eyes moved to fall upon the young woman Natsu had pulled in behind him. Tangled dark brown curls fell out from under the hood she still had pulled over her head, and a pair of wide eyes lost between shades of dark and light green stared back in wonder at the entire guild of Fairy Tail. All of them stared back at her too.

There were several long seconds of confused silence at the sight of her hovering just inside the doorway, then Mirajane shrieked in alarm. The Rune Knight woman stood up so fast that she'd sent her glass flying and her barstool crashing to the floor. A furious look was carved into her tanned features, her razor-like eyes were fixed on the girl who was still stood motionless behind Natsu.

"I don't believe it," her voice shook with barely suppressed fury, jabbing her finger hard at the pair of them standing in the doorway, "The Council was right! Fairy Tail has been harbouring Artemis this entire time!"

Complete bedlam ensued. Almost all of the mages of the guild instantly rose up out of their seats, yelling incoherently over each other at either the Rune Knight woman, or at Natsu who for once looked completely baffled by what he had just unleashed. Makarov ground his teeth at the absurdity and stupidity of what the pink haired Dragon Slayer had just done. The one person the entire guild had been warned to look out for and keep away from at all costs; and he had gone and made friends with her, and then escorted her through the front door.

The Master of Fairy Tail stood up on the bar, behind where the Lieutenant Reese was firing ever more accusations at the guild members who were attempting to defend themselves in equally loud and furious voices. When Makarov bellowed across the guild, his voice was that of a raging giant.

"Natsu, what the hell have you done?"

* * *

**And that concludes the second full length chapter. Seriously people, if you read it please let me know what you think. It would really help get more chapters coming faster.**


	4. Chapter 3: The Pandora Metaphor

******Method To Madness - **When a renagade mage starts leaving guilds destroyed across Fiore, the Council suspect Fairy Tail to be the ones responsible. With a Rune Knight representative dispatched to investigate Fairy Tail from the inside, all hell begins to break loose when Natsu makes a mistake which could land the guild in more trouble with the law than they've ever been in before. Contains OCs

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I only claim joint ownership with **JuubiOokamii** over the characters Amy Casalta, Noelle Reese, Gabriel Benning, Nate Wolfe, Alec O'Connell, Lori Tam, Elias Oak, Lucien Reese, Diana Casalta, Arien Reese, Felicity Reese, Murphy, Minerva Benning, and the subsiquent plot of this story._

* * *

**- Chapter 3: The Pandora Metaphor -**

Amy leapt back away from Natsu who was looking between her and the livid Council official in bewilderment. The Rune Knight was on her feet, ignoring the angry cries of defence being thrown at her from all directions. Her eyes were enraged, and they were fixed upon the hooded girl in the doorway.

The innocent look of naivety melted from Amy's face as she mentally kicked herself. How could she have been so overconfident to walk right into the guild without checking it over first? She'd walked straight into a trap!

"Move." the Rune Knight growled like a hunting dog at the Fairy Tail mage, but didn't bother to wait for them to oblige before she charged.

"Dammit!" Amy swore aloud as the woman flew towards her fast. If it hadn't been for the other mages blocking her pathway, the ferocious looking Council mage would have grabbed Amy by her throat. Lucky for her, Amy seized her chance to dive to the left, rolling under a table and onto her feet on the other side. Feeling her magic instinctively surge into her leg muscles, she fired her foot into the side of the table and sent it flying across the floor.

The Rune Knight simply didn't have time to dodge before the table slammed into her chest with such force that it knocked her backwards over a line of benches with a loud smash.

Silence enveloped the room.

The resonating thunder of so many voices that had graced Amy's ears when she'd first entered the guild was gone. Now she could feel them staring at her in stunned and completely silent shock as the world slowed to a crawl around her. She'd somehow managed to keep the hood of her travelling cloak up during the tumble, and she thanked her lucky stars for it. She still had a chance of getting away without anyone catching a close look at her face.

Amy made her decision to flee almost instantly, lunging towards the door before anyone could cry out for her to stop. But no one needed to. Before she'd even taken a step toward the exit, she was grabbed by the shoulder and spun around so fast that the guild became a colourful blur. A flash of grey eyes met her's for the briefest moment before the Rune Knight sent her knee into her stomach.

Choking on a cry of pain, Amy doubled over as the air was knocked out of her. Something warm brushes agains the back of her neck, and sudden sharp pain flooded down her spine like a liquid electric shock. Every muscle in her body instantly turned to mush, and she sagged to the floor like a puppet that had it's string's cut. She couldn't even move her head, but she could still see the Rune Knight standing over her from through her hair.

"You are not going anywhere, Artemis." The woman's voice was cold as her gaze.

_ 'H-how…How can that be possible?'_ Amy's mind reeled and she wanted to swear, the paralysis spell the woman had used burning on the back of her neck,_ 'I saw the table hit her…I saw it! How is she still standing?'_

She let get gaze stray upward, her eyes still blurred with pain and anger. She could see the open doorway directly opposite to her, wide and welcoming with the sunny street just outside. From the corner of her eye Amy saw Natsu, who she'd been happily chatting away with only moments ago, his eyes full of passion about his guild as he talked to her. Now, he was staring at her aghast with his eyes wide and disbelieving, and betrayed. Amy felt a pang of sadness mixed with a rush of anger in her stomach. The magic influence she had cast over him when they'd first spoken was starting to fail. She could feel it more than see it in his face as he looked at her sprawled helplessly on the floor. At any moment he would come back to his original senses and also be against her.

She hadn't wanted to enchant him. He'd seemed really nice; but she hadn't had a choice. She'd needed a way of getting inside Fairy Tail without being stopped or asked who she was, or why she was there. The spell had worked, but it had done her no good. It was too late. They were all already against her now, all of them.

That was it.

Her last hope had been snuffed out. Her long journey was over, and it had all been for nothing. She felt like screaming, but her body was still being held down by the weight of the binding spell on her neck.

"Well this is unexpected." the Rune Knight's frustratingly calm voice spoke again, "I hadn't anticipated you being so prompt in your arrival, Artemis. Still, you'll have plenty of time to contemplate that mistake on the way back to Era."

Amy watched as the tall woman turned away to addressed the collective assembly of guild mages who all stood in a wide semi-circle behind her, using the same convicting voice she'd just used on her.

"As for your judgement, Fairy Tail; I would advise you come up with a _very_ good reason to why you were openly harbouring a wanted fugitive within your own guild hall."

"Harbouring her?" one of the mages barked in outrage.

"We've never seen this girl before!" another added just as loudly, initiating the rest of the guild members to join in a course of yelling agreement. The Rune Knight woman did not look impressed.

"Lieutenant," a short grey haired man the size of a dwarf spoke diplomatically, moving towards her out of the mob, "I'm afraid you are mistaken in your accusation. We have never seen this young lady before, and I'm certain that Natsu had no idea who she was when he brought her here. She must have tricked him somehow."

"Wouldn't have been hard to do." Another of the mage with black hair and no shirt muttered and Natsu shouted back in rage, finally snapping back to his senses.

"She just said she needed help! She said she was looking for somebody, I just…" he trailed off, and Amy could see the confusion, and then realisation in his eyes. He stumbled backwards almost drunkenly into a few other equally confused mages as the effects of the spell left him dazed, "W-what...just happened? I was just on the street...how did I get here?"

Amy felt angry tears welling in her eyes, frustration pouring the whole way through her. She struggled to move but the spell just burned hotter against the back of her neck.

"I'm certain she did trick him," the Rune Knight said in stoic agreement, "She's been reported on several occasions to have the ability of manipulating people using her voice. I'll mention it at the hearing, but I can't guarantee anything. Your punishment for associating with her will be for the Council to decide, not me."

The woman turned away from the whole of Fairy Tail and began to walk back towards where Amy was starting to push against the magical restraint.

The idea of being thwarted now that she was so close just made her angry, so very angry. She could feel her magic surge through her, strong as the pull of the tides. Her emotions must have been more forceful than she realised, because the spell binding her dissipated with an audible 'pop'. With a grunt of effort she scrambled to pull herself up off the floor, her hair falling away from her tear streaked face. She saw a few of the mages including the Rune Knight flinch at the sight of her moving again, but she didn't care. She suddenly and irrationally hated every single one of them. All mages. All guilds.

Humiliated, she wiped her puffy eyes viciously with the back of her hand.

"Let me past." She said, her voice dipping back to it's normal tone. There was no need for fake sweetness she'd used on Natsu and Happy now. "Let me out of here."

The Rune Knight woman responded by removing the surprised look from her face, and taking a firmer stance between Amy and the door. It was a simple change in the way she stood, but it was an answer enough. Amy took in a deep breath, and more tears of frustration quickly formed in her eyes. She tried to keep her voice clear through the tightening in her throat.

"Please…let me pass. I don't want to fight, I just want to go. I'll never come back I swear." she said, and she meant it, "Just let me go."

None of the mages moved. Most looked either too confused or too cautious to risk doing anything that could potentially invoke another attack from either her or the Rune Knight - who was still blocking her way to the door. Amy's stomach plummeted as she saw her reach to the back of her robes, unhooking a set of magic inhibitor cuffs from her belt.

"Rouge mage Artemis," The Rune Knight lieutenant spoke like she was reading off a script, "You are under arrest for mass battery assault, grievous bodily harm, and the destruction of seven major wizard guilds of Fiore."

Amy began to back away as the woman drew closer, a tiny part of her mind that had remained quiet up till that point starting to send panic into her blood.

"Don't come near me." she said almost silently, her eyes fixed on the cuffs, "Stay away from me."

But she didn't stop coming towards her, still reciting her rights in a robotic voice. "You have the right to remain silent if you wish to. Anything you do say can and will be used against you."

Amy felt her back both literally and metaphorically hit the wall behind her. With one last pleading look at the Fairy Tail mages behind the advancing Rune Knight, she let a trickle of magic back into her voice again, praying it would work.

"Please..." The word was more of a question than a plea.

One of the Fairy Tail mages, a blonde haired girl looked as if she was about to move forward, but the Council representative shot a fiery look over her shoulder. "Don't listen to her! I told you she can cast spells with her voice!"

Something deep inside Amy broke. Like someone had pulling a violin string so taught that it finally snapped under the strain. She felt the fear, panic and raw anger thrum through her entire body in a wave that she couldn't have restrained even if she had wanted to.

Enough. She'd had enough of all of it. No more. This time, she would destroy everything.

* * *

Noelle had seen destruction before. War-torn cities. People turning on each other. Buildings destroyed in the blink of an eye. But she had never seen so much raw fury come from one human being before.

Artemis screamed.

But it wasn't just a scream. It was a bomb going off, a raging hurricane, and the howl of a hundred giants all combined into one. The force of the noise hit Noelle like a tangible force, and she was flung backward into the air like a ragdoll. The shock made her head spin and her eardrums burn as if they'd been set on fire. She barely even noticed the pain in the rest of her body as she crashed through tables, and chairs, and people. She hit the floor hard, and for several moments she couldn't see or hear anything.

Those few seconds felt like an eternity. All she could do was feel the chaos erupting all around her through the floorboard, until finally her eyes came to life again. Cracking wood and dust fell from the ceiling in showers as bodies, large and small were hurled through the air like they were stuffed toys. A few of the Fairy Tail mage who hadn't been too close when Artemis had started to scream tried to counter with spells of their own. Noelle rolled her head to the side and managed to spot Artemis between burst of magical arrays.

Savage primal rage was carved into the young woman's face through the chaos. The kind of rage you saw from a wild animal backed into the corner of a trap. Artemis screamed again, and the magically enhanced sound ripped through Noelle's head like a knife tearing through paper. She couldn't hear her own cry of pain as she clamped her hands over her ears, trying to force her eyes to stay open. Windows exploded out into the street, wooden supports cracked, but the agony of the noise was so much worse.

Whatever Noelle had expected the she-mage to be capable of, she hadn't been prepared for this. She couldn't even focus enough to activate her own magic, let alone counter attack. Her skull felt like it was about to split open.

Desperate, she reached down to the bottom of her robes and began tearing off the hem of her tunic. Tears had started to run down her face and into her hair as she stuffed the shredded pieces of cloth into her ears. It didn't completely block out the horrendous shrieking or the cries of pain, but at least it muffled the sounds of pandemonium enough for her to get to her feet. She staggered a bit, her head swimming, but managed to stay upright.

The screaming stopped, but the chaos didn't. Artemis had clearly had enough of causing senseless pain and had decided on going for good old-fashioned destruction instead. She ran towards the bar, swatting people out of her way with strength a girl her size shouldn't have been capable of. When she got to it she took hold of the edge and wrenched it upward, tearing the wooden countertop off completely with another horrible screech. More mages tried and fail to stop her as she turned the ruined bar top into a battering ram, catapulting several people into to the air as she swung it.

Noelle had to dodge quickly to avoid being knocked over by the flying bodies. Her legs were still shaking but at least she could see straight again, though her magic was still out of the game. The ringing pain in her head just wasn't letting her focus enough to use it effectively. Another binding seal wasn't going to work either; Artemis had already managed to force her way out of one with brute strength alone. If she could just get close enough to get her inhibitor cuffs onto the girl's wrists...

A male mage with dark hair suddenly shot out of the crowd. He somehow managed to spin under the rabid girl's crude weapon and catch her under the chin with a solid uppercut. Artemis hung suspended in midair for a second before she crashed down onto a table top. For a moment, Noelle really thought he'd managed to knock her out - but she just rolled backwards off the crushed wood it into a crouch on the floor, snarling furiously at him.

The dark haired man looked vaguely surprised at her speedy recovery, but it didn't last long. Grabbing the edge of the tables she'd been thrown onto, Artemis spun on her heels and hurled it like an over-sized frisbee at the man's face. It struck him just below the collarbone and Noelle barely had time to duck just as both tabled and man whistled over her head and collided with a support beam right behind her. In that half second, she saw her chance.

Not stopping to think about what she was about to do, Noelle shot forward in a low sprint dodging past debris and downed mages scattered all over the floor. Artemis had been too distracted coming out of her spin to see her in time. With a twisting motion of her fist, Noelle ploughed a sharp punch directly into the girl's solar plexus. Artemis's eyes flew wide as her diaphragm spasmed, and her powerful voice died in her throat. In the same movement, Noelle twisted the girl's arm into a lock with one hand, using the other to unlatch the locking mechanism on the cuffs. The moment Artemis saw the restraints something feral flashed behind her eyes. Her entire body convulsed violently as if someone had jabbed her with a taser, and Noelle didn't have time or warning to react.

The unnaturally strong girl wrenched her arm free, grabbed Noelle by the front of her robes and threw her.

'Threw' was probably the wrong word to describe what Noelle experienced in those few seconds. Artemis had picked her up like she weighed less than toddler, and had sent her spinning across the entire length of the room. The only reason the young woman hadn't collided with the far wall was because a support beam blocked her path. It cracked horizontally as her body caved around it.

"Get away from me!" Artemis's voice was had gone hoarse from the punch to her chest, "Leave me alone! Leave me_ alone!_"

Noelle's eyes watered as she fell limp to the floor on her side, watching with blurred vision as the rampaging girl fly into another frenzy of screaming. Kicking over tables, sending chairs flying and bellowing in that voice that made her eardrums beg for mercy.

She stared in wonder at the furious female mage, unable to make herself move. She couldn't be sure, if it was just the adrenalin, or the crack to the head she'd just experienced; but something about the way the girl had just screamed those words was hauntingly familiar to her. It was a faint but very real assurance that she'd heard that voice before...

_ 'Leave me alone!'_

The memory hit her like a tangible punch to the stomach, more painful and more sudden than having her body thrown tossed about like a sack of potatoes.

_'Why are you still here? After everything I did to you! Why won't you just go away? Why won't you just leave me alone?'_

The first time she'd heard those words spoken by that voice surged to the surface of her memories until it was ringing in her head like a fire couldn't really be her...there was no way...

"Dammit! She's tearing this place apart!"

Noelle could hear more yelling in between Artemis's senseless screaming, and she realised that the other mages were finally managing to get spells close enough to hit her. Something bright hit the raging girl in the shoulder and her face contorted with primal rage. With a roar of fury, Artemis turned upon the Fairy Tail mages she'd previously been ignoring and charged at them without a seconds thought.

A surge of sudden and almost insane panic gave Noelle all the strength she needed. She painfully shoved herself away from the wall just in time to see a young blonde mage scream as the maniac girl's fist flew directly towards her face. Her lungs and throat burned as she let out a bellowing scream at the top of her voice.

"Amy! Stop this!"

* * *

**I feel a little mean for cutting it off right there, but I'll have the next one up soon. R & R please. :)**


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